Safe and vault protective device



Aug. 27, 1935. A. LOWY El AL SAFE AND VAULT PROTECTIVE DEVICE 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed March 28, 1930 m PM? INVENTORS J 6 1 rog 9' Aug. 27, 1935. A OWY H 2,012,453

SAFE AND VAULT PROTECTIVE DEVICE Filed March 28, 1950 2 SheetsSheet 2 Q U3 L: INVENTORiS vault protective devices and more particularly to Patented, Aug. 27, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT mm SAFE AND VAULT rno'mo'rrvn navrcn Y Alexander Lowy and Robert B, Reynolds, Pittsburgh, and John W. Young, Ben Avon, Pa,

assignorsto Federal Laboratories; Inc., Plttsburgh, Pa., a'corporation of Pennsylvania Application March as, 1930, Serial No."439,641 13 Claims. (cider-'41) This invention relates generally to safe and devices for protecting safes and vaults attempted to be burglarized by the use of a heating torch. It has been proposed heretofore to provide a safe with a material which, when heated, liberates an incapacitating gas. This material may either be in liquid, gaseous or solid form, and if in liquid or solid form, it may be mixed with a fuel such as gun powder or nitro-cellulose which burns, thereby raising the temperature of the incapacitating material to a point capacitating gases are evolved. It

where inhas been found that wherethe incapacitating material and. the fuel are intimately mixed together, they have a tendency to deteriorate quite rapidly. One object of the present invention is to employ the fuel and incapacitating material inaform which will prevent or decrease the rate of deterioration. I

In accordance with this invention, the incapacit'ating material and the fuel are arranged in alternate layers within a container. alternate layers are connected by an open fuse,

The

and incapacitating materials, when mixed according to prior practices, deteriorate to a sub stantial extent in about one to three years. If the alternate layer construction hereinafter more fully described is employed, the materials will not deteriorate to any substantial'extent during a very long time.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the present preferred form of tion,

the inven- Figure 1 is a sectionthrough the wall of a safe showing a safe door provided with the safe protecting' device;

Figure 2 is a plan view of one of the safeprotecting devices;

Figure 3 is a side elevation;

Figure 4 is a plan view of the device shown in Figure 2, parts being broken away to show the alternate layer construction,

Figure 5 is a section on the line VV of Figure 4, and

Figure 6 is a plan view of a small perforated box adapted to contain anhydrous unslaked lime, or similar material, which'box may be placed in the safe protective device to keep the chemicals in the device in an anhydrous neutral state. Referring more particularly to the drawings, a 6' safe wall 2 hasan inner lining 3, and an-outer casing 4' of hardened steel. The wall is provided with a door 5 supported by'hinges 6. The door has a recess! in which the safe protecting devices 8 are arranged. The recess 1 is closedw by a hardened steel plate 9 having 'a surface plate I0 on 'its'outer side.

As shown in Figure 1, three of the safe protecting devices 8 are arranged in the recess I in the door. The safe protecting device comprises a metal container l5 having therein a plurality of layers I6 of fuel, each of the layers It beingseparated by layers ll of material adapted to give oil incapacitating gas when heated. The layers l6 and I! are connected by a fuse l8, or any combustible agent, such as cord dipped in potassium nitrate solution and dried, which extends through the diiierent layersso as to insure that the combustion willproceed through all of the layers.

The container also has other fuses 20 which havetheir inner ends extending betweenthe, layers l6 and IT. The inner ends have a charge or booster 2| which may be composed of a powder held together by a suitable binder. One end of.

the fuse 20 extends outside of. thecontainer, so' that a plurality of containers may be employed within the recess of the safe door. The fuses l8 connect the different layers of fuel and incapacitating material ineach container, and the fuses 20 connect the different containers.

The containers have a coating 80 of lacquer on the inside thereof in order to protect them from the chemicalscontained therein. The out- 7 side of the container is coated with a layer 3| of a0 a low inelting point material, such as paraflin, as indicated by the heavy lines in Figures 4 and 5. The paraflln coats the outside of the container and also fills up the openings 82 through which the incapacitating gas escapes when the containas ers are heated. The holes may be also covered with adhesive tape. The heat of the blow torch used in burglarizing the safe melts the paraffln in the openings 32, or the vapors blow open the holes, and allows the vapors to escape therefrom.

The layers of incapacitating material may be composed of any one or a mixture of various chemicals, depending upon the type of gas which it is desired to liberate. Among the materials which'have been found suitable are-chloracetophenone, brombenzyl cyanide, diphenyl chlorarsine, diphenylamine chlorarsine, or halogenated esters. The fuel layers l6 are composed of a combustible material which generates heat when ignited and an oxidizing agent. The combustiblematerial is preferably a carbonaceous material, such as charcoal, or cellulose type material. The

source of the cellulose material may be any commercial product containing cellulose, preferably thiclr' paper of an absorbent variety.

We prefer to use a thick absorbent one hundred percent rag paper whichhas been soaked in potassium nitrate solution and subsequently dried, or ground carbonaceous material or cellulose material mixed with an oxidizing agent, such as' potassium nitrate. Glue or casein, or other suitable binder may be added and the mixture compressed to form the fuel layer It. The oxidizing agent may be any one or a mixture of several well known oxidizing agents-for example, permanganates, peroxides, chlorates, perchlorates, chromates, dichromates, nitrates; percarbonates, or persulfates of metals.

For most purposes, we prefer to use chloracetophenone as the incapacitating material,'and a cellulose or carbonaceous material containing an oxidizing agent such as potassium nitrate as the fuel layer. The incapacitating material, chloracetophenone, is likewise preferably absorbed in one hundred percent ragpaper of an absorbent variety. Where it is desired to produce smoke in addition to the incapacitating gas when the protective device is heated, ammonium chloride may be added.

In order to keep the contents of each protective device in an anhydrous neutral state and thus prolong the life of the ingredients, a small perforated box, as shown in Figure 6, containing lumps of anhydrous unslaked lime is inserted in each device. 1

The arrangement of the incapacitating material and the fuel in separate layers decreases the rate of deterioration of the fuel and the incapacitating material, so that the protective device is eifective even though it has been installed in a safe many years previous to the time of the attempted burglary. The arrangement of the incapacitating material and the fuel within a container provides a convenient means for transporting the protective device and for its installation within a safe. Since the individual containers are provided with fuses extending outwardly therefrom, any number of containers may be arranged within the safe according to the size of the safe which it is desired to provide with the protective device.

We have illustrated and described the present preferred form of our invention and have enumerated certain materials which we prefer to employ. It is to be understood, however, that the invention may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A safe and vault protective device, comprising a layer of rag absorbent paper containing chloracetophenone, said layer being substantially free from readily ignitable fuel, a layer of 100% rag absorbent paper containing an oxidizing agent, a fuse connecting the different layers, and a container provided with an opening.

2. A safe and vault protective device, comprising a container provided with an opening, the

container having therein a layer of material adapted to liberate incapacitating gas when heated and a layer of fuel adjacent thereto, said incapacitating material being substantially free from readily ignitable fuel, and an agent adapted to maintain said layers in an anhydrous neutral state.

3. A safe and vault protective 'device, comprising a perforated container containing a layer of paper impregnated with an incapacitating material and a layer of paper impregnated with an oxidizing agent, and a fuse connecting the layers.

4. A safe and vault protective device, comprising a perforated container containing a layer of paper impregnated with chloracetophenone and a layer of paper impregnated with an oxidizing agent, and a fuse connecting the layers.

5. A safe and vault protective device, comprising a perforated'container containing a layer of paper impregnated with chloracetophenoneand pacitating material, a layer of cellulosic material impregnated with an oxidizing agent, and a fuse connecting the different layers.

8. A safe and vault protective device, comprising a perforated container containing a layer of cellulosic material impregnated with chloracetophenone, a layer of cellulosic material impreg-' nated with an oxidizing agent, and aim connecting the different layers.

9. A safe and vault protective device, comprising a perforated container containing a layer of cellulosic material impregnated with an incapacitating material, said layer being substantially free from readily ignitable fuel and a layer of fuel.

10. A safe and-vault protective device, comprising a perforated container containing a layer of cellulosic material impregnated with chloracetophenone said layer being substantially free from readily ignitable fuel and a layer of fuel.

11. A safe and vault protective device, comprising a perforated container containing a layer of cellulosic material impregnated with an incapacitating material, and a layer of cellulosic material impregnated with an oxidizing agent.

12. A safe and vault protective device, comprising a perforated container containing a layer of cellulosic material impregnated with an incapacitating material, a layer of fuel, and a fuse connecting the layer of fuel with the layer of cellulosic material which is impregnated with the incapacitating material.

13. A safe and vault protective device, comprising a perforated container containing a layer of cellulosic material impregnated with chloracetophenone, a layer of fuel, and a fuse 'connecting the layer of fuel with the layer of cellulosic material whichis impregnated with chloracetophenone.

ALEXANDER LOWY. ROBERT B. REYNOLDS. JOHN W. YOUNG. 

